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Harold and His Writings

Sidebar to "Harold's New Adventure"

In addition to serving as a source for hundreds of articles, Harold Evensky has written many articles on topics like the changing equity risk premium and the bucket approach to retirement income planning. He wrote “Planning for Long-Term Health Care (Real Life, Real Answers)” in 1990, “Wealth Management: The Financial Advisors Guide to Managing and Investing Client Assets” in 1997 (which was updated and reissued in 2011), and with his partner, Deena Katz, wrote “The Investment Think Tank: Theory, Strategy, and Practice For Advisers and Retirement Income Redesigned.”

Evensky’s client newsletters are probably the most widely read newsletters among journalists. They’re not written for journalists, mind you, but for Evensky & Katz Wealth Management’s clients, but their friendly, folksy manner also includes plenty of tough love for clients. Example, from the September 2013 newsletter:

On occasion I’ve had a client respond to my belief that investment returns will be relatively modest with, “But I need X%!” As tactfully as I can, I respond, “The markets don’t give a damn.” Tough medicine, but planning on reality is likely to be a lot safer than planning on the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

In a December interview, Evensky disclosed that he’s been working on a new book “for the public,” though he’s quick to say that “‘working’ is an exaggeration.” The format of the book, which he hopes to finish this year, will be “fairly simple, with decent stories” following the One-Minute Manager’s approach to delivering pithy, helpful advice. “This isn’t Suze Orman,” he pointedly said. His motivation? “We’re living in a long-term, low-return environment,” so for consumers, “a little bit of attention to your money can have such a big effect on the quality of your life.”